SIGNS OF THE TIMES

“Is there anyone at your house over 65 who could get a senior discount?” she asked slyly looking at my gray hair.

Over 65!  I thought the senior discount was for anyone 55 and older.  That was at the medical supplies store where I was buying a hot water bottle to keep my toes warm this winter, when I plan to have the heat turned down to save energy.  Is this store pinching pennies?  Well, most of their customers would be seniors and they can’t be expected to give a discount to all of them.  (By the way, if you use a hot water bottle, you learn very soon to wrap it securely in a plastic bag in case it leaks, and to not let the water be too hot.)

Then at the grocery store I noticed that the produce department had shrunk.  Well, harvest time is over isn’t it?  Taking the place of produce was a huge display of carbonated beverages.  But I noticed that the baked goods section had also shrunk.  (This grocery store has its own bakery – very nice.)  Actually, I’d noticed that before – the baked goods area has been steadily shrinking for several months as they remove sales tables and counters.  The case of the shrinking grocery store (hmmm).

No problem finding everything I wanted in the grocery store this time, unlike previous visits over the past few months when some things were out of stock.  I kept asking myself how this store could be having a problem staying stocked just a mile or two from one of the biggest interstates in the nation, if not the biggest.  Producers are faltering?  And now there is more to buy, because others are buying less?  I don’t know what’s going on.  This store carries some organic products, so I go there for the organic.  I need this store.

And what’s happening with the salad bar?  Seems like the new policy is to make sure each and every bin is nearly empty before they toss what’s left and replenish.  I got a well-picked over salad.  Oh well, maybe the salad bar was just unattended for some reason?

There was something else new – two huge tables filled with assorted items, all sale-priced 99 cents or less; all discontinued brands I suppose.  Not great on a day when the papers were screaming “global meltdown” or some such.

Another thing I like about my grocery store is that they take the groceries to the car and load them.  What do you say to a man pushing your groceries?  I asked this man “What do think about the ‘crisis.’  Is it real or are they just trying to sell newspapers?”  He had plenty to say on that – he is retired he says, in his seventies, like his wife.  (Some retirement where he has to keep working!)  He said, “I don’t trust the banks; I don’t trust Washington.”  He’s worried about his very small retirement savings.  He didn’t say he’s angry and scared, but he is. 

I am worried that in these hard times this grocery store could be losing customers.  It’s such a great store, I hope it can stay open.

Earlier that day I noticed the gas station had changed, too, and I don’t mean the sky-high prices for gasoline.  For some months now, the new rule has been cash customers pay inside first unless they are at the nearest pump where they can be observed by the checker.  Dishonesty, or rather desperation, has been growing along with the prices.  Now I noticed a new sign – “For these credit cards, pay inside” (they named two card companies).  So they don’t trust those cards anymore. 

Another sign of the times – almost no traffic!  I was thinking maybe I was the last person on Earth.  People are finally learning how to conserve gasoline and to do more than one errand at a time?

Many houses for sale on my street.  Where will the people go? 

Later that week the local paper announced some teachers might be fired – not as many children had signed up as anticipated.  Where are the children?  Another article mentioned 500 homes on the market locally that were foreclosed (banks took over).  Could the lack of children have something to do with that?  People are moving to less expensive areas?   Nobody knows what’s happening with the schools.

Several weeks ago the clerk at the drug store said that more and more people are asking for rain checks (to get the current price at a later date).  Meaning more things are out of stock?  Or just more people are asking?  Or both?  I don’t know.

When I went to the bank in early August, the desk clerk there said, “Watch out for that other bank,” and he named a bank.  “It will fail.”  He said he was sure.  He said it’s easy to find out how sound a bank is by going online.  At the time I thought he was just trying to steer me away from his competition and shrugged it off.  Now if he knew two months ago what was going to happen to that particular bank, and obviously the bank’s officials must have had a pretty clear idea of what could happen, why didn’t the government know AND do something well in advance of this crisis to head it off?

Why hasn’t the government done something about health care, immigration, global warming, etc?  This Congress was elected to stop the war.  They didn’t.  Did they do anything?  Oh well, they kept the government running.  That’s good.

The bank clerk said, “If you want to be secure, buy a cow.”  Now I’m thinking maybe this guy knew what he was talking about.  Now I’m thinking a cow would be a good idea, except that a cow would be too big.  Maybe I need a few sheep instead.  They would take care of cutting the grass and that way I wouldn’t have to pay for lawn care.  Sheep milk tastes OK, doesn’t it? 

My view – when people’s lifetime savings can vaporize overnight or in a week, just because other people are gambling, and that’s what it is, gambling in the stock market with nearly real-time online trading, and gambling by making bad bank loans, then this gambling has got to stop.  We have an economic system that is badly in need of radical reform.  Forget about just rearranging the deck chairs.

-2008-

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